


Breathe With Me

by constellationary



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: F/M, Glader Slang, Gladers, Panic, Panic Attacks, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert, The Glade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-20 00:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12421467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constellationary/pseuds/constellationary
Summary: When the reader comes up from the box and straight into the welcoming arms of the gladers, she is frightened and disoriented. Gally tries to help her.





	Breathe With Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reader insert I wrote a while back when I was really into Maze Runner. I'm probably not going to write anything else for this fandom, but I'd posted these on tumblr previously and wanted to consolidate all my writing.
> 
> TW: Panic Attack

‘Who am I what am I where am I what is my name why am I here what is happening why is it so dark why is everything moving where am I?’ Thoughts race through your frantic head as the pitch black around you rumbles and sways. You can’t tell which direction you’re going- down, up, sideways? Energy is swirling around you though you’re blind to the chaos. Maybe it’s just in your head. Maybe you’re dying. Maybe you’re already dead. 

This idea is eventually proven incorrect as light, coming from what must be up, slices through your panic and floods into your eyes, burning you. You cover your eyes with your hands as your legs reflexively scramble backwards till you hit a wall with your shoulder blades. Distant yells reach your ears- You keep hearing “the box” over and over again. You try to get your eyes to focus, but it’s excruciatingly bright. Before you can see anything but vague shapes, you feel a large weight land near your feet and sway the ground beneath you. The voices you heard all come very close, then hush. “It’s a girl.” 

The words came from the figure that had dropped down in front of you. It’s a boy, you can tell by his voice- deep, with some sort of accent as well. You still can’t see very clearly but you do see his tall figure approach you quickly. ‘He’s going to hurt you. You’re in danger.’ Your thoughts race as he reaches for you. You reflexively throw out your fist with all your strength as he draws near, protecting yourself from this potential attacker. ‘You’re going to die.’ Your thoughts won’t stop racing. ‘I need to get out, I need to get away!’ 

You can hear other boys calling from above in almost jeering voices. “She’s mine!” “No I called dibs!” “Wow, she’s hot.” “Come stay with me tonight.” Laughter erupted at that remark. “Can I get her next?” As they speak, you shake in disgust and terror. 

Quickly, you stumble to your feet and try to push the boy away as he attempts to steady you (he barely moves an inch). “Hey, hey! I’m here to help you, okay? Everything is fine, I’m here to help-” but he’s going to hurt you, you just know it; You push him again, even harder, and try to hit him where he’s vulnerable. Your eyes finally adjust adequately to the light as the boy suddenly lurches at you and grabs your flailing arms, restraining you. You scream and punch and kick and bite madly, trying to protect yourself. 

The boy yells for help as you hit solid flesh a few times. Four or five more boys jump down onto the level of floor you are at- maybe some sort of lowered box, like they were talking about?- and all grab you. You can’t move, you can’t breathe, you don’t know where you are or who you are or what you are and all you can feel is so many hands touching you and halting your frenzied movements. You breathe heavily, trying your hardest to struggle free, using up almost all your energy trying to thrash away. “Med-jacks!” You hear the first boy shout as your feet are lifted off the ground and far upwards. “Need you here, now! New greenie’s a girl and she’s got something shucking wrong with her!” 

The boys lift you out of the box as you fight for escape and into the hands of what they called the med jacks- just two more teenage boys, and some other boys try to help as well. You whip your head around in your new surroundings. 

There are boys all around you, at least fifty of them, with varying expressions on their faces. Seeing how outnumbered you are only fuels your fire, so you quickly scan out where you are.You’re in a huge clearing, with walls towering on every side in the near distance. Your eyes instantly snap to a large opening in a wall and your vision tunnels in. This is your escape. 

You stumble around for a couple seconds before feigning passing out and falling into the arms of the nearest “med jack”. You feel all the hands on you but two release you slowly and you wait. Conversation buzzes loudly around you but you can barely tell it apart from the rushing in your head. As soon as the final grip loosens to a normal hold on your arm, you open your eyes, twisting out of your captor’s hands, sprinting towards your salvation- a way out. 

Your feet fly underneath you, though you still feel very unsteady. All you can see is the door as your vision focuses in. Closer. Closer! You are hardly 30 steps away from freedom when the breath is knocked from your lungs and you find yourself on the ground underneath someone. “

“What are you doing? You’re gonna get yourself killed!” he bellows as you once again struggle to escape. You’re so close to the door! You raise your hands up to his face and rake them down the fragile skin on his cheeks, willing to do anything to get away. In quick succession you follow with a punch to his groin, with all the strength you can muster. You flail as you launch yourself away from him, scrambling to regain your footing. Ten feet. Nine feet. Eight feet. Seven- Once again, someone stops you, grabbing your waist and holding you with an iron grip. 

“Stop fighting, slim it!” the boy holding you says, sounding agitated. “You’re only hurting yourself. Don’t be a shucking idiot, we’re trying to help you!“ You throw your head backwards into his throat, attempting to injure him enough to get away, but he holds tight. 

Under his unforgiving grip, you finally begin to notice your body again. You can’t breathe; your sharp hyperventilation is making your head so dizzy and light. Your heart beats way too fast to be normal; if left alone it feels as if it would burst straight through your chest and leave you lying on the ground in a puddle of your own blood. Never mind the enemies on every side of you- you feel like you’re dying all of your own accord. Your breath comes in huge wheezes and in tiny bursts. You can’t seem to get enough air into your lungs. 

The boy holding you seems to notice, and lowers you to the ground, turning you around to face him. You push out the words, “I think…I’m dying,” before your breathing goes so far out of control you can’t even whisper anymore. The boy serving as your iron chains keeps a firm grip on you, but gives you a little more space to move. 

The boy speaks hurriedly but calmly. “Hey, hey, you’re okay. My name is Gally, I’m gonna help you. Breathe, you need to breathe. Everything is gonna be okay, I just need you to breathe with me. I’ll count, okay? Good that? Three counts in, five counts out.” You struggle to follow his instructions, desperate for air and relief, for calm. “In and out. I know it’s really hard, I know your shuck body is telling you that you can’t, but you can. You can do this, listen to my voice, focus on your breathing, okay? In for three counts- one…two…three…good. Now out for five. One…two…three…four…” Your panicked breath is no where near as controlled as he seemed to expect you to be able to do. 

You can see boys converging towards you from all around and you feel even worse the closer they get, like the world is closing in around you. “Get back! Everyone get the shuck away from her! Give her some space!” Gally roars. He must be able to see the distress on your face as the crowd closes in. 

The wheezes coming from between your lips worsen as you race through thoughts more and more about if he is going to hurt you- is he on your side? ‘I can’t do this,’ you think again and again. You futilely struggle once more to escape, failing miserably with Gally holding you where you are. 

“Hey. You need to slim it, okay? We’re not going to hurt you, I’m not going to hurt you, neither are any of the other gladers. You’ll be safe here! Just breathe, greenie, okay?” 

“Don’t call me that!” You snap between ragged almost-breaths. “Don’t…” You can’t breathe at all. Your eyes grow wide as you grasp at your captor’s hands, seeking some, any sort of help. 

He holds onto your hands tightly. “You’re gonna be okay! Breathe with me, in..one…two…three…now out. One…two…three…four…five.” His calming and authoritative voice slows your heartbeat and so do your efforts towards breathing- but it’s not enough and you can feel yourself getting so lightheaded. He places your hand on his chest, breathing exaggeratedly and counting to help you feel the soothing rhythm instead of just hearing it. But it’s not enough. You start seeing black spots as your lungs continue to spasm with their irregular breaths. You can feel yourself shaking. 

“Hey, no, no no! Don’t leave me! You’re gonna be fine, just don’t close your eyes okay?” You can feel the vibrations of his words…it’s strangely comforting. It makes you just want to close your eyes…as you hear him calling to you, you see everything blur to white and you don’t even feel your body as it slumps towards the ground. 

———————————————— 

When you become aware of yourself again, your eyes slowly open and you view a room filled with medical supplies. You’re laying on top of a low set bed, which is the only real furniture in the room other than a chair next to the bed. Standing near the chair is a boy- not the boy named Gally, it’s a different one- kneeling down with his back to you, rustling around in a box of some sort. 

You sit up a little, your head hurting as you do. At the noise of the bed creaking, the boy turns around. 

“Oh! You’re awake! That was fast. Gally!” He yells the name. “She’s up already.” He walks over to you with some bandages and a bottle of water. “Lay back down. That was rough out there. How you feeling? I’m Clint, by the way.”You follow his order and lower yourself back into the pillow. “Where am I?” The room smells like pine wood, earthy and fresh. 

“This place is called the glade. We all showed up here with no memory, just like you. Do you know your name?” 

You shake your head as he pours some of the water on a cloth to clean some scratches on your arm. “Well, you will. Soon enough.” 

You hear the sound of wood creaking and Gally strides through the doorway. In this calmer environment, you can’t help but notice of how tall he is, and how attractive. “How is she? Have you cleaned her scratches up yet?“ he asks, directing his question to Clint. He then looks at you, giving him no time to answer. “Are you okay?” 

You nod with a tentative smile on your face. “I think so.” You pause, looking down, the smile melting from your lips. “Thank you. For trying to help me out there. I don’t know what was wrong with me….I just- I was so scared. I didn’t mean to- well, I don’t know why-” 

He cuts you off gently, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It’s fine. I’m, uh, I’m glad you’re okay. I was a little worried when you passed out- I just wanted to keep you safe but I, well, I guess I didn’t do so great at that.” He lifts his hand to rub the back of his neck with a wry, yet serious smile. 

“That was a panic attack,” Clint offers. “If you were wondering what happened. A couple of the gladers get them sometimes. Shucking scary when it’s happening, but they’re always fine after. Never had anyone pass out, though. That’s a first.” He wraps a bandage around your arm and secures it carefully. 

You smile sheepishly as Clint stands up and speaks again. “I’ll leave you two alone. For the five minutes you were out, he wouldn’t leave me alone, all worried about you. Of course, this was all after he yelled at anyone who tried to help him take you over here, or even come close to you. Anyway, I figure he should at least get a chance to introduce himself properly.” With a bemused look on his face, he leaves, but not before Gally yells “Slinthead!” at his retreating form, a blush creeping across his face. I hear Clint laugh as the door closes behind him. 

“You were worried about me?” You ask with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well, yeah.“ He moves to the chair next to you. “I mean, you passed out. Of course I wanted to make sure you were okay. I was kind of responsible, anyway. I was the one who grabbed you when you were so scared. I probably didn’t help.” 

Your eyes widen. “No! None of this is your fault. This was probably going to happen no matter what. You helped a lot, Gally.” You reach out and touch his hand in a gesture of thanks, surprised when he takes hold of your hand in his. You look at him and smile, when- “Y/N!” 

“What?” Gally asks, confused, his eyebrows furrowing together. 

“That’s my name! Y/N!” You exclaim with a laugh. 

His face lightens and he grins back at you. “It fits you.” 

You are about to respond when yet another boy walks through the door. This one has a heavy limp. “What?!” he laughs loudly. I think he was the first one I saw here, the one with the accent. “Gally, smiling? You must be a miracle worker, love.” He grins at you playfully. “I came to answer all your undoubtedly countless questions, but, uh,“ he glances at your hand in Gally’s, prompting you to blush a little bit, “I think I’ll let Gally have that duty. You seem comfortable enough with each other, anyway.” 

“Slim it, Newt. Just shut your shucking face,” Gally says rather dismissively, frustration and perhaps embarrassment tinging his harsh words. 

Newt just laughs again, a little bit incredulously, and leaves. As Gally watches Newt go, you study his face. If his smile is apparently hard to come by, you hope to yourself that you can figure out how to make it a common visitor- because you love it.


End file.
